Alleys at night, Shaukiwan

Passed by Shaukiwan at night. The small dim alleys caught my eyes.

Dinner Buffet, Courtyard by Marriott HK

From 8th May 2011, Courtyard HK has launched dinner buffet at HK$228+. As a result of their nice tea buffet, I promptly tried the dinner buffet lately. It turned out it isn't as nice as their tea buffet. Smelly king crab and seafood. Salmon is a cheap graded one. Prime rib was cut in half for roasting. So it lost all the juice inside. So chewy. Only the salad is right.

上海香港麵家 鰂魚涌 HK Shanghai noodle shop Quarry Bay HK

I can say almost 90% of the eateries in Quarry Bay are very disappointing, except East Ocean which is on the contrary. Today the disappointment list included this one.

1. Pan fried dumplings (HK$16). So so. No flour flavour and it should be done some time ago.

2. Soy drink (HK$7). This one is the best among all the others, but they use some cheap white sugar which is a bit dry sweet.

3. Pork chop with tan tan noodle 豬排担担麵 (HK$36). It claimed it used fresh pork chop. Cheating! It's mashy and even smelly. Most of all, it shouldn't be put in the soup when served. The soup base is awful!

4. Lion head with veggie rice (HK$32). Another awful food. Horrible heavy corn starch in the meal ball, rotten veggie (smelly too).

5. Stir fried veggie (HK$16). Another rotten veggie!

6. Rotten veggie rice. I didn't intend to complain, considering the cost of the food and that this kind of shop wouldn't entertain it, as in the attitude that the waitress threw the dishes on the table. 7. The shop.

The power of Leica M9

At the courtesy of Pixmation, I am excited to share some photos taken by Pixmation with a Leica M9. As noted, Leica has its unique vivid color and detailed light contrast. The below first 2 photos are the example. The khaki jacket and the light purple sweater and the facial color of this gentleman are superb. Then the red t-shirt on the lady is very rich and full. Note the bright light background didn't bring down the red color. Photo 3/4 is a very good example on how a sophisticated camera and the cmos sensor pick up the light and color. This kind of red flower is very difficult to be handled well. As seen on the photo 4, the detailed pattern and lines of the red flower can be seen. Photo 5/6 are another 2 good examples on how good of the light contrast. Besides, a very nice framing and and composition skill by Pixmation.
At last, thanks Pixmation for letting me see and share these photos. Personally I don't think I'll get this camera for these few years, as I'll be under much pressure in a way of making good use of this awesome camera.

Soong Fa Bak Kut Teh (spare rib soup), Clark Quay, Singapore

There are 2 types of spare rib soup. The common one is the brown one with more Chinese herb and the other is this garlic pepper soup base. Every time I had this soup, it reminded me of how the hard working people in the old time charged up their body with this soup and a bowl of rice before a hot sweaty tough working day.

1. This shop is opposite to the Central mall in Clarke Quay. I came here at around 3pm to avoid the crowd. In the night time, there is a long line outside the soup.

2. Barley drink. Good to balance the hot of the soup.

3. Bak Kut Teh. Very nice, and I like pepper soup a lot.

4. the shop entrance.

Marriott Cafe, Marriott Hotel Singapore

Marriott group often impresses me with their buffet quality in general and lately added with this one.

1. The cafe and it's crowded. Dinner buffet at S$60++ (around US$50++).

2. Very fresh live oysters and crab too. Nice pickled and antipasti.

3. Fresh salad and nice dressing. Selected anchovy and sun dried tomatoes.

4. Marriott cafes do offer some very fine tea in a wide selection and it has a tea station for you to get your own cup of tea.

5. hot food. I don't like crab but I would try some crabs in Singapore. They are sweeter and juicier, but I don't like their popular dish black pepper crab. Such nice crabs shouldn't be overwhelmed by black pepper.

6. Drunken shrimp. So good! I took 2 bowls though the Chinese herbs in Singapore isn't too good.

7. Prime rib. This one is quite disappointing. It wasn't a good rib. Too lean but the roasting is ok.

8. Sweet. Again, Marriott cafe knows how to make dessert and cake.

9. Chendol.

10. Ice cream. This is a bit below my expectation. In many other Marriott Cafes, they use Hagen Daz. This one is no no. I also noticed the ice cream served in Singapore isn't not that frozen and too soft for me.

11. The tea and coffee station.

places to places, Singapore

1. Financial district.

2. my most favourite bak Ku Teh (Spare rib soup) on Balistier Road in Singapore, near Wen Tung Gee. The shop hasn't changed at all.

3/4. restaurants along Boat Quay.

5. Ice cream in bread.

6-8. Orchard Road. The trees are growing bigger and bigger on Orchard Road.

Singapore at night